Andrew Chalk and Giancarlo Toniutti ‎– "Tahta Tarla" (Pans'urlo Panseri ‎– G:Rᵐ–>Rⁿ / 03Rⁿ) 1993

Silence is often louder and more disturbing than the visceral noise that Andrew Chalk began his career with as Ferial Comfine.
This tinnitus style collaboration with early Italian Industrialist Giancarlo Toniutti, is as disturbing as being confronted by your own hidden thoughts.
As it's our last post of this very....very.... crap year of 2017,it will give you a chance to reflect upon the tragedy of the rise of a new dark age of popularism. For the first time since the Berlin Wall came down, there's a real danger that we have leaders stupid enough to start a nuclear conflict. So savor what could be your last chance to say 'Happy New Year',no matter how ironic are those words or vacuous those tedious fireworks displays are , because next time, we could all be DEAD!

Tracklist:

A Tienalauami(24:27)
B Warkswood (20:31)

DOWNLOAD while you still can HERE!

New Blockaders With Ferial Confine ‎– "The Final Recordings" (Dom Bartwuchs ‎– DOM BW 02) 1990

These are indeed the 'Final Recordings' of Andrew Chalk's 'Ferial Confine' project, but The New Blockaders would carry on to this very day.
Andrew Chalk would go on to make increasingly disappearing and quieter music as himself in the Dark Ambient arena; whereas The New Blockaders would carry on making the same old noise for the next quarter of a century.
As much as I love a nice paint stripping noise track or two, they do tend to chafe somewhat at the boredom threshold. Like Van Morrison has made the same LP every year for fifty years, the leading lights of the Noise/Drone scene are doing the very same, pointless exercise. Having said that, Pointlessness is the entire point of The New Blockaders raison d'etre, so I can't criticize them for sticking to their dogma like limpets,as I usually criticize artists for not doing this.......they just can't win can they?
I heartily advise making just one record then stopping.Then one cannot be criticized for anything of the sort,except for being a quitter.

Tracklist:

A Untitled 17:06
B Untitled 18:21

DOWNLOAD the final downloads HERE!

Ferial Confine ‎– "Meiosis" (Broken Flag ‎– BF48) 1985

Another journey through the Richter scale of noise from Ferial Confine, aka Andrew Chalk.
Ranging from gentle electrical interference accompanying birdsong, to paint stripping screeching noise.
Meiosis is the initial stage of cell division that leads, ultimately to the existence of the Human scourge of the Planet Earth.So the gentle acceleration from something tranquil ,even beautiful, to an ear-bleeding destructive racket is, for these bleeding ears, a very accurate portrayal of natures greatest mistake.

Tracklist:

Side A (31:41)
Side B (31:07)

DOWNLOAD the scourge HERE!

Ferial Confine ‎– "The Full Use Of Nothing" (Self-released Cassette) 1985

Ferial Confine was Andrew Chalks scratchy scrapey nihilistic noise outing from early in his 'career.
Reminding one very much of similar cohorts, Organum,and The New Blockaders work; Chalk was right in there when it came to the early days of articulating 'Noise' into something feasible. He would later travel down the well-trodden path of ambient drones,but his early work is truly bizarre.

Tracklist:

Side A (20:23)
Side B (18:35)

DOWNLOAD to get the full use of something HERE!

The Goodies ‎– "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me" (Bradley's Records) 1974

As I couldn't be fucking arsed to make a Christmas compilation for this years midwinter festival, I'll just post my favourite inappropriate Christmas single by British comedy trio, The Goodies.
In the long,round,fluffy shadow of Harvey Wankstain, this tune seems to sum up this watershed year for the male libido. Beware he with a roving eye, or a penchants for the 'touchy feely', for he may land himself banged up for sexual deviancy. 
Back in the mid-seventies, in the realm of Jimmy Saville, Gary Glitter, and Bill Cosby, sexual assault was as trendy as a pair of 30 inch flares and a bottle of Hai Karate. 
These days, one is technically a Rapist if one has consensual sex whilst drunk(Is there any other way to have sex one may ask?).Naturally only applicable to those disgusting creepy pervs ,men.So, during the christmas office party this year, be sure to gain the written consent from the potential target for your lust,and a witness to testify that she/he wasn't drunk at the time of signing. Maybe this is all part of Bill Gates' secret depopulation program, apparently called "Agenda 21"?(yup, another conspiracy theory).
This very dodgy record,however, recounts a confrontation between a creepy St Nicholas derivative and a young lady who has apparently grown up considerably in certain departments during the 12 months since their last meeting.But all this was 'Alright In The Seventies'

DOWNLOAD or stream by touching  HERE!

The New Blockaders / Coil / Vortex Campaign - "Dolbied" (Self Released) 1984

The New Blockaders with their Flemish cousins in Vortex Campaign, bring you more unadulterated Racket with chums, Coil adding something strange to the proceedings. I doubt Coil saw themselves as Nihilists, so that opens up the role of the noise and lack of conventional instruments to something other than the rigid dogma of the other Blockaders releases. As for Vortex Campaign, I know nothing about them, except that they are a couple of Belgian brothers,and,as far as I know, were never heard of again.....now that's proper 'Nihilism' in action. 

Tracklist:

1 –"Untitled"
2 –"Untitled"
3 –"Untitled"
4 –"The Melancholy Mad Tenant Part 1"
5 –"The Melancholy Mad Tenant Part 2"

DOWNLOAD from the digital vortex HERE!

The New Blockaders & Vortex Campaign ‎– "The New Vortex Blockaders Campaign" (Self-Released) 1984

Vortex Campaign, were some kind of Belgian New Blockaders doppelgangers.Two brothers who make nihilistic noise compositions.But,unlike The Rupenus Brothers, they seemed to actually become 'nothing'.
The anti-music is the, by now, trademark grinding noise, but a tad less relentless than on previous releases.Those crazy kids!

Tracklist:

A1 –The New Blockaders & Vortex Campaign "Kamtar & Rio"
A2 –The New Blockaders & Vortex Campaign "Mandrake Manfits"
B1 –Vortex Campaign "Godhead"
B2 –The New Blockaders "TNB"

DOWNLOAD and bypass the blockade HERE!

The New Blockaders ‎– "Live At Morden Tower Newcastle-Upon-Tyne" (Self-released C-46) ‎1983

This cassette should have carried the following disclaimer: 'No Instruments were hurt during the making of this album'.Which is easily adhered to, as NO instruments were even used to make this complete racket.To quote a contributor to "The Wire" magazine who really should get out more:
’The Crackle of broken amplifiers precipitates a whole new order of independently morphing soundforms, all giving shape via flashes of metallic lightening, smashed glass, trashed microphone feedback and acoustic low-end pellets that scale the walls like slugs. Gradually accruing hypnotic significance, they birth spontaneous form in the shape of textures and recur with such accumulative force, they threaten to collapse the performance under its own weight.’ This unrelenting brutal noise attack could be the Rosetta stone of modern Noise as we know it,and are now bored of.Back in 1983 this was about as sonicly shocking and offensive as you could get without swearing or nudity.Those laughable councils who banned the Sex Pistols for playing standard Rock would have had kittens had the Pistols sounded like this as well as wearing designer clothing;but then again if they really did sound like this the kids wouldn't have bought the records.This is what 'Punk Rock' should have been.Shunning commerciality,shunning performance,shunning celebrity,shunning 'shunning'.
But of course, the word I should be using is TNB's favourite prefix, "Anti". They are "Anti" Art, "Anti" Music, "Anti" Performance etc.They are even uncomfortable with their own nihilistic terms, correctly identifying "Anti-Art" as something that could suggest the very opposite of what it says......and they'd be right.
In fact the only way of being "Anti" anything is to NOT do it.So merely by making a noise,recording the event,and creating an object with some obvious thought behind it, they contradict themselves.
Of course this is "Art" you silly boys.
As Don Van Vliet said, "You've had too much to think".

Tracklist:

A –Live At Morden Tower 13th July 1983
B –With Sir Ashleigh Grove Live At Morden Tower 12th Oct. 1983

DOWNLOAD the art and music of the new blockaders HERE!

The New Blockaders ‎– "Changez Les Blockeurs" (Self-Released) 1982

aNTI-aRT, aNTI- mUSIC nIHIISTS, is a common phrase used to describe The Rupenus brothers, aka The New Blockaders.
Basically they use Noise, as put forward in the "Art Of Noises" manifesto by Luigi Russolo in 1913,as a way of creating Musical and Artist Nihilism whilst at the same time distancing themselves from both genres. By 1982 Noise had already been realised by many artists from AMM to Einsturzende Neubauten.
The New Blockaders took this on as a lifestyle, building an ideology and myth around their attempts to explain away their 'Art'as 'Anti-Art' and their 'Music as 'Anti-Music', when it is all quite obviously 'Art' and 'Music'.They bang on about not performing as a spectacle for an audience, even electricity is not needed,as well as the audience.Its all purely coincidental.An attempt to put the 'Nihil' into both genres they claim to have nothing in common with.
But purely by existing they contradict themselves, even more so when a recorded document is created to prove that they exist and the sounds they created are there to be replayed again and again, if so desired(which is doubtful), then they have created something solid and real; which is basically "Art"!
They eloquently explain their philosophy regularly in detailed rants, which if they were pure Nihilists, as they claim, they would never need, or have anything at all , to explain? Which ultimately makes it all meaningless.....so maybe they have achieved their goal after all?.....Christ I feel stupid!

Tracklist:

Side 1 (22:34)
Side 2 (22:36)

DOWNLOAD without blockages HERE!

Organum ‎– "In Extremis" (L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords ‎– LAY 19) 1985

Another plethora of scraping and squealing sounds, augmented by what sounds like an electric fan with something inserted between the rotating blades.
Top quality Non-Music from one of the originators of the genre, helped on side B by the Rupenus brothers, aka 'The New Blockaders', who add their own special brand of Nihilism as anti art to the already nihilistic mixture(they also frown on 'Anti-Art too by the way!).....and end up making....er......Art?!? In fact even making non-music and releasing a record with a designed sleeve seems to go against their impossible standards somewhat, but there you go, nobody's perfect?

Tracklist:

A1 In Extremis Pt. 1
A2 In Extremis Pt. 2
B Valley Of Worms

DOWNLOAD all extremities HERE!

Organum ‎– Tower Of Silence (L.A.Y.L.A.H. Antirecords ‎– LAY 12) 1985

This is the sound i heard every Friday lunchtime at school,where the whole class would move their chairs and desks in the direction of the exit to make ready for the rush to get to the dinner hall first before sport in the afternoon.
If scraping chairs,nails scratching down a blackboard,and general metal on metal friction is your gig,this is highly recommended.

Tracklist:

A1 Tower Of Silence Pt.1 2:21
A2 Tower Of Silence Pt.2 7:14
B1 Voice Of The Angel 3:49
B2 Incarnate 4:48

DOWNLOAD this silent noise HERE!

The New Blockaders and Organum ‎– "Pulp" (Aeroplane ‎– AR 7) 1984

This is the single version of Organum's "Pulp/Icon" cassette, augmented by anti-anti-art noise merchants the 'New Blockaders';who add a spadeful of searing noise to the recipe.
One has to say, the 7" vinyl format seems suited to this brand of scraping heavy machinery.As intense and exciting this grinding racket is, three and a half minutes is just about enough to avoid boredom.......modern day attention spans huh?   

Tracklist:
A Pulp Pt.1
B Pulp Pt.2

DOWNLOAD pulp friction 2 HERE!

Organum ‎– "Pulp / Icon" (Self-Released C-30) 1983

Whereas David Jackman appeared as 'himself' on his early cassette releases; around 1983 he became 'Organum' to become more anonymous ,if that was possible?
Dipping his toes further into the realms of non-musical droning noise, here's Organum's first release, featuring two near identical drones not unlike a spinning washing machine dueling with a taxi-ing prop driven aircraft.
Basically, don't expect a sing-a-long. 

Tracklist:
A Pulp (15:38)
B Icon (15:10)

DOWNLOAD some pulp friction HERE!

Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey ‎– "Reprint" (Snatch Tapes ‎– tch 220) 1980

As much as we wish this DIY Avant-Industrial classic was by two young ladies called Susan and Claire; I hate to reveal the open secret that this was indeed by Mr. Snatch Tapes and Storm Bugs member, Philip Sanderson.
These were the two fictitious ladies we wish had joined the Human League instead of said group becoming the cast of 'Rita Sue and Bob too.... 2'.......but ,No! It was a clever attempt to disguise a solo project, and distance oneself from the 'cult' of personality that inevitably accompanies an artist stepping out of the shadows of pop mythology.
I mean just look at whats happened to The Residents? Everyone knows who they are, and were, in these sad ol' days.Even famed wall-scrawler 'Banksy' has been outed as a posh ex-public school boy called Robin Gunningham...nick name 'Robin Banks'(Geddit?); and most definitely NOT that boring bloke from Massive Attack.The 'real' facts are far less romantic than the myths.
Its become increasingly hard to do this in the modern information/disinformation age. So maybe new tactics are needed? Utilising the evil,and real wrecker of civilisation, Facebook(s) talent for 'Fake News' and 'Alternative Facts'. Which possibly means that this tape really IS by Claire Thomas and Susan Vezey.....no-one knows the real 'Truth' about anything anymore! 

Tracklist:

A Reprint 1 (12:18)
B Reprint 2 (11:50)

DOWNLOAD the girls who could have made 'Don't You Want Me Baby' an avant-garde classic rather than just a number one hit HERE!

Storm Bugs ‎– "Table Matters" (Loop Records ‎– Loop 323) 1980

Snatch Tapes founder and frequent David Jackman collaborator, one Philip Sanderson, was, as if you didn't know, also in DIY Industrial duo 'Storm Bugs'. And to prove it here he is with Steven Ball,on their debut vinyl appearance on Loop Records, keeping Snatch Tapes purely cassette based.
Despite some Genesis P-isms in the vocals department, this is undoubtedly equal in 'old school' Industrial power as the best of our chums in Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire; echoes of both can be heard here, mixed in with more than a pinch of Storm Bugs obvious avant-garde tendancies.
Its all chucked into the cake mix here, heavily effected vocals, found dialogue, repetitive tape loops,metal percussion, electronics and of course an overworked echo effects unit.

Tracklist:

A1 Cash Wash 1:41
A2 Eat Good Beans 1:59
B1 Make Customers Matter 2:09
B2 Window Shopping 2:06
B3 Our Main Objective 4:44

DOWNLOAD the calm after the storm bugs HERE!

David Jackman ‎– "Ritual" (Snatch Tapes ‎– tch 211) 1981

A lengthy C-7 release on Philip Sandersons legendary 'Snatch Tapes', by David Jackman, with some assistance by everyone's favourite DIY label owner.

For the need of a better word, this 'cassingle' was unlikely to trouble even the most obscure of charts with Snatch Tapes unlimited supply of 30.

Side A is like an ambient recording from the engine room of a small submarine of a small vessel passing on the surface above, accompanied by a swinging rope brushing randomly against an electric guitar.

Side B is the sound of that same small vessel grounding itself on a reef while the sub breaks apart in the depths.

Tracklist:
A –David Jackman "Ritual" (3:29)
B –David Jackman & Philip Sanderson "Offshore" (3:28)

DOWNLOAD ritually HERE!

David Jackman ‎– "Crest" (Aeroplane ‎– AR02) 1982

Four foreboding noise drones for the modern gentleman, as released on a very limited edition C-20 in 1982 by David Jackman on his own Aeroplane label.

These days everyone has a drone project going on; but back in 1982 this kind of stuff could get a Daily Mail reader foaming at the mouth like a rabid ferret, warning about such ill-informed hyperbole as 'the death of civilisation'. Those Brexit voting cretins would be missing the point, because this non-music is all about philistines like 'Daily Mail readers' in their role as the real killers of civilisation........again.....Twats! A cosy cardigan slippers and pipe type of passive evil that their kind are!

Tracklist:

A1 Crest
A2 Ember Hollow
B1 Grass
B2 Dawn Plaza

DOWNLOAD from the crest of a drone HERE!

David Jackman ‎– "Up From Zero" (Aeroplane ‎– AR03) 1982

A Fine and willful purveyor of creeping sinister noise is ex-scratch orchestra and Snatch tapes stalwart David Jackman. In there right at the year zero of articulated scraping Noise. A single minded approach to making non-music,looking total obscurity in the face. 
If you like the sound of a distant container vessel breaking up in a calm sea and sliding to the bottom of a polluted and dead ocean along an immense blackboard? Then this is for you. Although there is something strangely comforting about this menacing symphony of crashing cars and drowning hulks of structurally compromised hulls.

Tracklist:

Ways To The Sea
Threshold
Up From Zero

DOWNLOAD from ones and zeros HERE!

Those Little Aliens & This Little Alien ‎– "Recordings 1980-1981" (Vinyl-on-demand)

Gordon A. Hope and Ian Dobson, aka 'Those Little Aliens', were also founder of experimental music fanzine 'Flowmotion'; which is probably why LTA were on the Flowmotion compilation on ICR.
Classic cassette bound lo-fi electronica from the UK DIY underground of 80/81.
Talking about Aliens....
As i wrote a rant about thick xenophobia eg Brexit, a few posts ago, I now hear that Brexit is basically OFF, as May crumbles over the Irish border.Now the borders remain open, and Britain gets to pay the EU loads of money for getting no representation in the EU Parliament in return.....what a deal, what a waste of fucking time!!!???...all due to Those Illegal Aliens!
In the meantime we'll listen to something that is absolutely NOT a waste of time.......yes 'Those Little Aliens', what else did you think I was referring to?.....The EU anthem? (Beethoven's Ironic 'Ode to Joy' if you didn't know.


Tracklist:

01 Ismalia 3:03
02 Low Point X 2:45
03 Sentimental 1:57
04 Voortrecker 2:06
05 Incident In Moderan 2:26
06 4 To 4 Rumbling 4:55
07 Momente Über Statik 2:04
08 Aarg, Stop It 8:22
09 Metal Time Control 3:28
10 Out Of Sequence 2:42
11 Chattering Aliens 2:12
12 Stepping Backwards 5:23
13 Prarie Drifter 2:12
14 Your World 5:05
15 Dilemma 2:35
16 Debth Of Space 1:47
17 No Noise 4:57

01 from Various - Flowmotion
02 and 03 from Various - We Couldn't Agree On A Title
04 to 07 from Those Little Aliens - Incident In Moderan
08, 15, and 16 from This Little Alien - Synthesizer Specialist
09 to 14 from Those Little Aliens - Variable
17 from Those Little Aliens - York Tape

BeamDOWN(LOAD) these little aliens HERE! scotty,... ENERGISE!

Various ‎– "Flowmotion(An Album of Contemporary Electronic Music)" (ICR ‎– ICR 003) 1982

Well, as this compilation is over 35 years old, it can no longer claim to be an album of Contemporary anything, but it does have some electronic music on it ,by some of the bigger names of the UK's electronic underground of the early eighties. And I note that none of this lot have yet to retire.
A few of these tracks one would hesitate at calling them strictly 'Electronic'.Experimental pop with incidental electronics is good enough for Eyeless In Gaza,and Those Little Aliens hark back to the time when magnetic Tape manipulation was called 'Electronic' Music.I suppose anything made with machines that one plugs into the mains is technically 'Electronic' so there you are!?

Tracklist:

A1 –Chris & Cosey-Devil God
A2 –Those Little Aliens-Ismalia
A3 –Eyeless In Gaza-Dusky Ruth
A4 –Eyeless In Gaza-Through Eastfields
A5 –David Jackman-Do The Dog
A6 –Ian Boddy-Follow
A7 –The Legendary Pink Dots-Hanging Gardens
B1 –Ian Boddy-Skylights
B2 –Paul Nagle-A Journey In The Dark
B3 –Carl Matthews-As Above, So Below
B4 –Colin Potter-Rooftops

DOWNLOAD with the flow HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird (An International Compilation)" (Dark Star ‎– DS 1-2) 1985

A wide ranging compilation that included all the leading lights of the UK Electronic Underground.....aka a fancy way of saying 'Prog'......are collected on this c-90/c-60 double package.Compiled in 1985 by our chums from the Ultima Thule Record Shop in Leicester; whose own projects (Alto Stratus and Zircon etc) take up a hefty 20 minutes of tape time.....and why not?
A wide range of abstract experimentation is on display over these two and a half hours, ranging from Ambient electronics to mid range Industrial, to the madness of DDAA,categorised in the 'Other' category on iTunes.

Tracklist:
White Side
A1 –Paul Nagle-Skrying 8:45
A2 –Peter Frohmader-Pharaonische Grabkammar 9:10
A3 –Colin Potter-Potters Wheel 6:14
A4 –Region 5-In The Cage Of Crystal Moonlight 5:43
A5 –Conrad Schnitzler- 1·11·84 7:02
A6 –Adhara Alucian Landscape 6:58
Yellow Side
B1 –Ken Moore In The Field With Flowers & A Toilet 5:47
B2 –Kevin O'Neill The Claws That Catch 5:39
B3 –Peter Frohmader Sepulchral Choirs 11:28
B4 –Alto Stratus The Captive 14:56
B5 –Paul Kelday Timelord 5:06
Grey Side
C1 –Günter Schickert Powolerman/Suleika 8:53
C2 –Land Of Yrx Merman Ikon Bee 7:07
C3 –Bourbonese Qualk-Blackout 3:02
C4 –New 7th Music-Tlazolteotl 5:03
C5 –Hartmann-Forget The Past 3:08
Blue Side
D1 –R N Andrews- Humphrey's Final Words 2:06
D2 –Aussenminister-City Wolf 4:29
D3 –Zircon & The Burning Brains-Imaginé 5:16
D4 –Input- Heavy Street 4:19
D5 –David Gate-Nothing Isn't Everything 3:39
D6 –Rollkomanndo-Nude Picture 2:11
D7 –DDAA-Une Etude De Sonorisation Par Le Sol 4:50

DOWNLOAD this bird from its cage HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Expedition To The Barren Reaches Of The Mind" (DTW ‎– DTW 011) 1986

Come on this disturbing journey into the very,very, Barren regions of a Trump supporter or a Brexit leave voter's malfunctioning Brain.
See the naked racism and or Xenophobia, slooshing around with casual misogyny and outwardly mobile bigotry.
As for environmental issues, side B sums up very nicely what these intellectual minnows would like to do to any idea that could possibly help make the future more survivable for our children.Short-termism and political myopia reign supreme, while these largely decrepit old fogies slowly fuck up the lives of the young.
As immigration falls sharply in pre-Brexit Britain , leaving thousands of job vacancies unfilled; we have yet to see these proud 'little englanders' queuing up to take these mythical jobs that have been stolen by those dirty filthy Eastern European hordes . Mostly they(Leave voters,not eastern europeans!) are too fat, lazy, or old; missing their appointments at the job centre because their mobility scooters are on charge.

"Referendums are a device for Dictators and Demagogues"(Margaret Thatcher!(1975)...Nice one Maggie!

It all might have been different if the €60 Billion euro divorce bill had been put on the side of a bus methinks......to sum up.....Twats!
In fact this tape has far too much of interest on it to accurately represent the echoing emptiness in the mind of a Trump era brexshiteer; it should in fact just be the natural hiss of analog tape, like self cleaning urinals hissing their dissapproval.
Luckily the mind Paul is exploring here isn't the mind of one of these despicable morons, its the mind of an average human being from the minority rather than the moronic majority. So there are lots of interesting abstract electronic  sorties into the regions of the brain that are rarely stimulated.

DOWNLOAD to fill those barren regions of your mind HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Beyond The Perimeters" (Self-Released) 1983

Paul Kelday was releasing self released cassettes of abstract electronica as early as 1974.Even using the much vaunted send a blank tape and a stamped addressed envelope system that was so fashionable at the height of the UK DIY era from 79-81.
This C-60 is still in his trademark BBC Radiophonic Workshop stylee, but also hints at a kinship with the Industrial scene. Probably one of his more listenable works full of wild analogue electronics.
If he was somewhere fashionable he'd probably be lauded as an avant-garde compostion genius, but, seemingly without any ego whatsoever, he remained in the shadows. Eventually,by the end of the eighties, he disappeared from the music scene altogether.Preferring a quiet life with his partner without Internet or Telephone, or Musical instruments. He stopped, and by Jiminy he meant it...very noble.

DOWNLOAD from beyond the perimeters of normal HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "Eschatus" (Integrated Circuit Records) 1982

More electronic noises from downtown Bognor Regis that sound, variously, like amplified dentist drills and braking subway trains fed through a plethora of tape echos and plate reverbs units.
The bastard child of Bebe and Louis Barron ('Forbidden Planet') and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

DOWNLOAD kelday today HERE!

Paul Kelday ‎– "The Plane Of The Inner-Between" (WMT ‎– WORK 015) 1981

Does he mean 'Plain' or 'Plane'?
Anyway, Paul Kelday had been farting around with his electronic devices, literally making 'Farting' noises, since around 1974. So this gives him the right to be the 'Daddy' of the DIY UK Electronic Underground. The Grandaddy being 'Trevor Wishart' of course.
This is as far away from 'The Berlin School' sound one could possibly wish for, and has more in common with the abstract electronics of Asmus Tietchens, and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop than Edgar Froese.
Lots of funny electronic noises,tape loops,found sounds and echo effects, rather than repetitive hypnotic melody lines, were the order of the day for Paul.Either because he was incapable of playing a synth's keyboard,if he had one, or it was a conscious decision. Either way this would make a good soundtrack for a 'Forbidden Planet' remake.

Tracklist:

A1 The Plane Of The Inner-Between
B1 Black Stream
B2 N.C.C. - 1701
B3 Event Horizon

DOWNLOAD the farts of paul kelday HERE!

Ian Boddy ‎– "Options" (Mirage ‎– M607) 1982

'Ian Boddy,composer, sound designer, DiN ambient music label owner & analogue synth aficionado', as it says on his official website; was another member of the British renaissance in electronic music in the 'Berlin School' style as made chart bound by german longhairs, Tangerine Dream.

Most of us would label this as'Ambient/New Age' these days, but its more than that.Especially when the sequencers get going.It has its repetitive synth lines that hit a chord in one's mind and body,and largely leaves the soft synth pads to the background.

I think one of the worst electronic inventions/innovations was the 'Polyphonic Synthesiser', especially when they got cheap.Up there with digital synthesis for awfulness.If music tech only stopped still at Monophonic keyboards that sounded like synthesisers, and drum machines that sounded like drum machines everything would be rosy in the electronic garden.

The temptation for Polyphony enthusiasts was to make terrible 'string section' backings for the otherwise excellent Lead synth lines; removing all breathing space in a recording by drowning it in emulated choirs and other orchestral pretentions.As annoying electronic sounds go, its up there with the Fairlight Orchestral Stab,and the DX7 Brass sound.

Non-Rick Wakeman Polyphonic keyboardists, also had a tendency to just rest their fingers on the plastic ebony and ivory keys and wiggle them about randomly,fed through a reverb unit and echo box, as if they knew what they were doing,which they patently didn't.

"Too many notes spoileth the broth", as the old adage goes; especially if you don't know what notes you're playing.

If you're ok with lush synth pads drowning out the good bits, then this is for you.  

Tracklist:

A1 Corridors 4:43
A2 Karina 3:32
A3 Water On Stone 2:40
A4 Into View 3:18
A5 Skylights 4:05
A6 Silhouette 3:31
A7 Follow 2:58
A8 End Sequence 1:54
B1 Till Quiet Descends (Live 07/11/1981) 13:55
B2 21 Degrees 14:05 (Live 07/11/1981

DOWNLOAD your options HERE!

Rieg ‎– "Music For Wind" (Mirage ‎/ Agitasjon ‎) 1980

Norwegian Bloke (Geir Låstad) in bedroom with synthesiser makes music about the weather......what else would you expect? One has to do something, apart from commit suicide, in those endless dark winter days.
Yep lots of 'white noise' is utilised to make fake wind effects, y'know, the first thing everyone did when they unpacked their new synthesiser......Hey Mom! Listen to this!
Later, we sampled burps into our new samplers and did the same thing; except this time it was for our very unimpressed girlfriends.......although it was very rare for a male into electronic music to actually have a girlfriend.Then when they did eventually find a partner, the synth went into the bin briefly until they were inevitably also 'binned off'for being boring, then came the come-back CD-r.
Geir also disappeared after 1980 only to mysteriously return in 2008 with a....uh-hum(clears throat)....comeback CD-r!.....Is it possible he got a girlfriend in 1981, then when he was divorced by 2008, vented his male menopause by retreating to his misspent youth in the bedroom and his youthful first love?....I think so.

If you hadn't noticed 'Rieg' is Geir spelt backwards.....clever eh?

DOWNLOAD and release some trapped wind HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Firemusic" (Agitasjon ‎– AGI 004) 1981

One of my favourite Jazz albums is Archie Shepp's "Fire Music".....ain't I sofisticated (sic)???......which positively bristles with channeled energy(fire) among the abused sax noises, but it does have its smooth bubbly moments,Like the whole of this cassette.

Mark 'Big in Norway' Shreeve's version of "Firemusic" seems to be a much more pleasant evening in front of a log burner than the controlled Napalm of Shepp's wailing horn. Its a soundtrack to witnessing something burning rather than using the energy of the fire in the creative process.Then extinguishing it with gallons of analogue foam.

This limited edition cassette for a Norwegian fanzine label is,for me, Mark's best album. It could easily fit into Tangerine Dreams' back catalogue from the classic period of 73-76.Plenty of gorgeous, warm analogue synth sounds, and hypnotic spacious melodies that could make burning to death a pleasurable experience.  

Tracklist:

A1 Blitz 8:47
A2 Firestorm 9:05
A3 Fireball 8:45
B1 Black Candles 3:45
B2 Firepower 16:37
B3 Heatwave 7:40

DOWNLOAD some warm analogue fire HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Thoughts Of War" (Uniton Records ‎– Uniton 001) 1981

Mark even had vinyl out in 1981, courtesy of a Norwegian label, as you do.

Here, our Mark ruminates on the sticky subject of 'War'.Pretty nasty stuff is 'War'......lots of killing, mass executions, maimed children, Genocide, its no fun at all......or so I was led to believe.

Listening to Mr Shreeves' 'Thoughts' on the subject one would be inclined to think that these unwelcome violent episodes were quite relaxing, floaty escapades.As if mass destruction was an open gateway to paradise. 

This is a concept of 'war' more akin to that imagined by those stone-age morons in the Islamic State.Of course to get round the fact that it is written in their holy book that they should not kill,they call themselves 'Martyrs'rather than muderers.A fast track to the side of God,and rewarded with, and I quote, "A Sensual Paradise". This consists of being wed to 72(?!) 'perpetual Virgins' called the 'Houri'......women, of course, don't get 72 musculus blokes in paradise, only one,"...and they will be satisfied with him"!!!!???....Have you ever heard such a pile of misogynistic neanderthal bullshit in your life before......well, yes if you're a devout Muslim.......I could go on, but might risk some kind of Fatwa from some suicide-bearded nutjob modern caveman in Birmingham.

I digress.

As pictured on the rear of the Shreeve sleeve, one will notice that Mark could have easily been pictured in 1971 rather than 1981, but his beard is absolutely NOT that of a radical Muslim; so his vision of War is probably not that perverted skidmark of anti-intellectualism that is radical Islam......don't worry the American Taliban are just as fucking bad to balance it up.

These 'Thoughts' on War ironically, or maybe purposefully turn out to be great stuff for Meditations for Peace.Like those Buddhist chaps do.....now wait.....isn't it those Buddhist chaps who are currently performing Genocide on the Rohingya (muslims) people in Myanmar? And wasn't it Buddhists who invented Suicide Bombing in WW2?.....the kamikaze.

So no-one is innocent is the conclusion to this digression.

But Mark Shreeve is innocent of taking the obvious route in this beautifully warm analogue, Berlin School of Electronics style, portrayal of War......this record is really 'Thoughts On Peace', and who could possibly disagree with that?.......yeah yeah I know, there's a huge list, topped by our chums from the three main monotheistic religions.

Good album by the way, even if a conceptually vague one.

Tracklist:

Thoughts Of War - Part One (15:15)
A1.1 Escalation
A1.2 Cold Emotion
A2 Nightmare Of Reality 14:25
B1 Dream Sequence 11:01
Thoughts Of War - Part Two (18:41)
B2.1 Funeral In Desolation
B2.2 Remembrance
B2.3 "...Ashes To Dust..."

DOWNLOAD some relaxing war sounds HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Phantom" (Mirage) 1980

Seems 1980 was a prolific year for Mark Shreeve, a year we've already established was the high point of this modern renaissance for art and music that some of us were privileged to have lived through.
It's all finished now of course, with the stragglers having to reinvent the wheel again and again, like landscape painters have had to do for the last 500 years or so; that's the future we have to look towards......the same things but done again,masquerading  as something new.
I suppose this rehashing trend started in the seventies, with stuff like 'the Mod Revival' and the resurrection of 'Ska'.
The UK electronic underground of the early eighties was basically a revival of the German Kosmiche music of the early Seventies, repackaged as DIY Electronica, and set in small town provincial England......well no-one else was doing it were they.Very unfashionable in 1980, so if you wanted to hear music like this then you jolly well had to go and 'Do It Yourself', as the Post Punk manifesto would have stated if it had ever existed.
So, here we get a tape of Electronic Space Symphonies recorded in a bedroom in such an exotic location as the dying English seaside resort of Great Yarmouth rather than West Berlin. 
It wasn't always like this for Mark however. He did get to work with a member of Tangerine Dream later on, his obvious inspiration. And, less impressive, infact downright criminal, he wrote several hit tunes for page three bimbo Samantha Fox in the mid-eighties!.....I assume those tunes weren't exploratory electronic odysseys like those on 'Phantom'.....would have been fun though to have Sam vocalising to something like this instead of whatever crud she inflicted upon our innocent discotheques?  

DOWNLOAD this phantom to your machine HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Ursa Major" (Mirage) 1980

The constellation Ursa Major, aka The Great Bear, containing, as the tail section of the Bear, a familiar pattern of stars commonly known in the USA as 'The Big Dipper', in France as 'Le Casserole' and in the UK, as 'The Plough'.
Thankfully this Cassette only has one title, but its contents are a bubbling 'casserole' of electronic star stuff that ploughs through your sub-consciousness until your thirst has been quenched without double dipping in the well of the Berlin school of synth twiddling.
That's about all I can think of to say without referring directly to the music too much, like modern music reviewers seem to do a lot????.Think, Tangerine Dream as Ursa Major, and Mark Shreeve as Ursa Minor......the poor chap only had one synthesiser, as opposed to about ten thousand under the auspices of TD,yet there's almost no difference in the finished product except for the budget;theirs was massive and Mark's was zero.......they did have better haircuts though.

DOWNLOAD the great bear(d) HERE!

Mark Shreeve ‎– "Embryo" (Mirage) 1980

They came with Beards,with bunches of unkempt long hair tied back in unsightly pony-tails, and carried keyboards as their weapons.......no i'm not talking about the Viking Invasion of Northern England!? The Vikings had weaponry at least equal in lethal effect as a Korg Monopoly or Moog Prodigy, but these later invaders were better known as The UK Electronic Underground. An unsubscribed terrorist organisation from the late seventies and early eighties.
Just as those naughty Punk Rockers, with their spitting and their habits, thought we were free forever from a Klaus Schulz hypnotic sequencer driven electronic symphony, or a Tangerine Dream Live album.There appeared, bubbling below the surface, in the very 'Punky',and certainly not Funky, world of DIY Cassette culture, grew a rebellious,or more accurately,Oblivious,infiltration of unrepentant progressive music fans with a spare few quid to spend on the latest polyphonic synthesisers.
One of these bearded invaders was none other than Mark Shreeve,who spread fear throughout the post-punk legions with his hypnotic keyboard sequences,effected electronic dream-scapes,and meandering melodies.Wielding his Prophet 5 like a sword in the hands of a disenchanted east-London born benefit cheat in Islamic State, with a captured Saudi-Arabian Fighter Pilot kneeling in an orange boiler-suit before him.
I exaggerate of course......no-one had the slightest clue this stuff existed in 1980.They were all too busy moonstomping in that bloody awful Two-Tone cult, where everyone dressed like they were in the Specials and had 'Fun' forced down their throats like geese at christmas......Skin'ead Fois Gras anyone?....no thanks!
That stuff makes Mark Shreeve, music and image, look like real rebellion against any kind of Status Quo,new or old (not the band of course!...ps, R.I.P. Rick Parfitt 😭).....(and as of 31/08/2022 R.I.P. Mark Shreeve too!?

Tracklist:
A1 The Keeper
A2 Alive!
B1 Embryo
B2 Iceflakes

DOWNLOAD some embryonic shreeve HERE!

Colin Potter ‎– "See" (ICR ‎– ICR 028) 1990

A journey into ambient drone territory for the wizard of DIY underground electronica, Colin Potter; long before Harry Potter became the most famous Potter, overtaking Beatrix quite comfortably.
ICR(or Integrated Circuit Records) was probably the 'Hogwarts' of experimental keyboard-ism for the whole of the 80's, and C.Potter was its Dumbledore.
Here , Dumbledore goes Drone, before it became fashionable for every Wire magazine reader to have an experimental Drone project on the go. It's a genre that should be attempted once,preferably by one person only, never to be repeated and I'm quite comfortable with that 'one person' to be Colin Potter.
A 'Drone' album can be written produced and played in real time in one take without any musical expertise required whatsoever,and is basically not really for listening to.Its a kind of aural water to fill up your flotation tank to the brim, to assist you to cut yourself off from this cruel world and confront your inner id without influence from the ego.
I don't sense that Colin has any ego whatsoever,and as one of the instigators of the DIY movement and cassette culture he deserves massive respect;but I can't say I've listened to anything he's done since this outing in 1990, which I'm shocked to find out was 27 years ago!!!!....or is that 27 years ego?

Check out his series of classic cassette releases HERE!

Tracks:

1-A Drift (23:57)
2-Tide (23:36)
3-Untitled (15:50)

DOWNLOAD from user platform 9 and 3/4 HERE!